You Leave Me Breathless
by QTargaryen
Summary: Santana reconnects with Quinn before Nationals and begins to regret all the lost time between them, that's until Rachel Berry holds a pre-celebratory Nationals party. One night can change everything.
1. Chapter 1

**The story is set just before Nationals of Season 2. Brittany and Santana aren't dating but the ND are under the impression that they are. There will be a few chapters featuring POV's and I hope you all enjoy it.**

It's only when Quinn Fabray walks through the hallways of William McKinley that she truly realises that she has a year left after this summer break of being Head Cheerleader, ruling the corridors with her two compatriots Santana and Brittany. The idea of Glee Club heading to Nationals in New York excited her though. The failure to qualify for this stage in the previous year haunted all the members. They felt that after the solid Journey medley that they'd be within a decent chance of a 1st-2nd place but the archrivals, Vocal Adrenaline, surpassed them and went on to the Regionals crown, leaving the New Directions tumbling back.

This year it was different. The Nationals contest was next week and summer was practically around the corner. Quinn did remember how this break would consist of her working many hours a week to begin the funding of her time at University after senior year but nonetheless, Nationals was her priority. It would make her feel better; it would look good on CV's and course applications for her selected Universities.

She made her way into the choir room, joining her fellow Glee club members on the chairs. She sat neatly beside Mercedes towards the back of the room as the remaining members piled in. Mr Schue was due to enter any minute, rounding them all up and typically writing their aim for the week onto the whiteboard in front of them. Rachel Berry entered last but didn't get seated next to the giant that was Finn Hudson, her mediocre boyfriend.

"Attention, fellow glee club members" She began in that typically high pitched tone, her skirt flaring around as she came to a halt in front of New Directions. They all stopped to look at her, awaiting what felt like was going to be an ordinary Rachel Berry self absorbed announcement. Quinn chewed on her tongue and rolled her eyes. "As we all know, Nationals is upon us and the end of our Junior year is following suit. As a late celebration for our qualification and our soon to be success, I am holding a small get together this Friday-" She is expectedly cut off by a male voice to Quinn's left.

"Yes! My hot little Jewish American Princess is racking up the whisky for a part-ay!" Puck celebrates by flailing his arms.

"Not a party Puck-" Rachel is cut off once again.

"Save it Blossom, we know you and the rest of us are ready to get hammered before going to New York" Santana has her arms crossed and Quinn smirks at the simple thinking. Of course everyone wants to get drunk on the weekend before all their hard work is put to the test.

Mr Schue walks in, shutting the door behind him. Rachel heads straight to the last empty seat, conveniently by Finn. "Alright! Guys, this week…" His voice fades as he squiggles down 'Nationals' in a black marker pen on the board. "Nationals! Now it's pretty self-explanatory. Rehearsals are key. Practicing solos, Finn, Santana, Rachel, Artie and the rest of you. This is our chance, our last Glee club session before we head to New York. Our last clear opportunity to perfect. We won't get a better rehearsal time in New York than this." Mr Schue finishes.

"I can't wait!" Rachel squeals in her seat. Santana scoffs. Quinn likes Santana's plain but obvious dismissal of anything Rachel says. "Don't worry Mr Schue! We're going to be perfect."

"Yeah if she plans on getting drunk off her pants this weekend" Mercedes whispers into Quinn's ear which makes her chuckle quietly.

The session ends with Rachel continuously reassuring Mr Schue that everything will be fine. Quinn finds Santana at her locker soon after. "Santana" She greets her on and off best friend. The pair were more or less inseparable, the openly hated each other's guts but inside they're practically arm to arm, weirdly conjoined mentally.

"Quinn" Santana smiles one of those infamous grins in the direction of her counterpart. "You have to help me pack for New York this evening." She explains her reasoning for standing at the blonde's locker.

"Santana we're going for about 2 nights" Quinn argues. "It hardly requires a night of holiday packing."

"I know but I'm a shit packer and it's not fun when you're alone. I need to have fun with someone and make them pack my underwear into a suitcase the size of Berry." Santana crosses her arms once more, smiling so that the ends of her mouth are practically touching her eyes. "And I doubt that I'd be in the mood to sort any clothes after what I intend to do at Barbra Streisand's little sugar candy party this weekend."

Quinn sighs, "I'll be at your house at 5" She replies, leaving the locker for the cafeteria.

Quinn stands absently at the front of Santana's front door. She hasn't visited the Latina's household for what felt like a year. She pulls the knocker back and smacks it against the door. She looks down at her shoes, shuffling a little as she hears approaching footsteps. The door swings open and Santana stands in shorts and a t-shirt. "Well hello Fabray, nice to see you on this side of the neighbourhood." She says in that cheeky tone of hers. Quinn enters the house and turns around to face Santana who closes the door behind them.

"Santana, I live about two roads from here. Nearly everyone lives within touching distance from each other. It's practically a monopoly board." Quinn responds, taking off her jacket as she adjusts to the warmth of the Lopez home.

"Quinn, anyone would think that we're on opposite ends of a neighbourhood with your glistening alpha-American house and everyone else's average stack of bricks" Santana dismisses Quinn playfully. She takes her best friend's wrist into her palm and leads her upstairs. They entered Santana's bedroom which Quinn knew fairly well. It wasn't a mess but it was a mess in Quinn's eyes.

"Oh how rude of me, anything you want to drink?" Santana asks at the doorway. Quinn takes a moment to think about whether if she does want a liquid refreshment but she was aware of Santana's impatience when it came to the simplest things in life.

"Orange juice" The blonde replies, sitting on Santana's bed. Santana rolls her eyes.

'_Simple Fabray, simple.' _She leaves her bedroom, leaving Quinn to examine the room she used to spend the majority of her 16 year old life in. But at 17 she has spent what was probably an accumulated 6 days in this room. Whilst waiting for Santana to return, Quinn walks towards the closet and reaches up to retrieve a small suitcase from inside it. She unzips and opens it out and places it upon the bed. She went back towards Santana's closet and scanned it for loose t-shirts, pyjama shorts.

"I see you've already started" Santana appears in the doorway with a glass of orange juice, smirking at the blonde's knowledge of her closet.

"Well it's not exactly a hard job." Quinn walks towards Santana who hands her the glass. "Thank you." Santana smiles and passes Quinn to her closet, picking out an outfit for the day when they get to New York.

"I suggest two relaxed outfits, our National's dresses obviously; maybe a couple of jackets since the weather in New York is always overcast. You never know what it's going to be like on the day." Quinn stands, taking regular sips of the juice as Santana turns to face her.

"Have you been before?" She asks, curiously. Santana was pretty sure that Quinn and her family had visited every corner of the country with the money they had until it was just Quinn and her mother, Judy. Quinn nods.

"When I was 6. My father had a conference call up there so he thought about making a weekend of it and took me, my mother and my sister." Quinn begins to explain. "You can see why Rachel is so desperate to get there aside from the Universities surrounding it."

"Is it that beautiful?" Santana sits down on her bed, patting a spot beside her for Quinn to sit down on.

"Oh indeed. It's a different kind of beautiful. Not like the architecture of Paris, London or Barcelona but it just gives off wow factor with all the tall buildings, the lights and the rush." The blonde finishes and gulps down the remainder of her drink, before placing the glass on Santana's bedside table.

"Tell me about your travels, Fabray." Santana orders, crossing her legs and shoving the suitcase aside.

The entire evening consisted of Quinn describing her holidays to Paris and London when she was younger with a family weekend away of camping trips up the north of the country. Santana spent the time in awe of her friend's passion for going away and adored how Quinn explain that packing and rushing to an airport made her so excited.

"Sit by me on the plane" Santana interrupted Quinn; her tone suggested that she was perhaps nervous about asking- or rather ordering.

"I thought you'd rather sit by Brittany or-"

"I've only been in a plane once and that was to Canada to visit my Uncle with my parents." Santana explained. "Plus I'd love to hear you talk like that on the trip there. It sounds more calming." Both girls blushed for different reasons. Quinn smiled at the compliment she received before looking past Santana's shoulder to the clock on the bedside table.

"Is it really 6:30?" She looks at her watch to confirm the time. "Wow, I should get going. My mother would be wondering where I am." She gets up off the bed and straights herself up.

"You can stay if you'd like, I'm sure Mom wouldn't mind." Santana tries to not making it obvious that she really enjoyed the tone the afternoon had taken and that she would rather spend the rest of the evening in her on and off best friend's company.

"I would really love to, believe me. My Mom would hate it if I put her cooking to waste, plus she would also enjoy making up for lost time since she can't come see us in New York." Quinn explains, putting her boots on and grabbing her jacket from the floor.

Santana sighs and begins to lead her out of her bedroom, down the hall and the stairs. "Okay, I'll see you tomorrow at school, right?"

"Of course" Quinn replies, smiling as she opens the front door. The girls depart with a wave each and Quinn begins to walk down the road off to her fancy white house.


	2. Chapter 2

It's Friday. The Friday before Nationals, New York and the day of Rachel Berry's pre-celebratory party before the New Directions depart for the North East. Quinn stands at her full length mirror beside her closet. She has picked out a beige dress that sits between her waist and knees. She turns in the view of the mirror, lifting the dress observing her thighs. She sighs. The pregnancy in the year before made her incredibly self-conscious about her stomach and thighs and parties always fuelled the anxiety that haunts her.

"Just go for it Quinn. First time for everything" She says to herself, shutting her closet and picking up her phone from her dressing table, leaving her bedroom.

"Quinn, when will you be back honey?" Judy calls from the living room, not turning around on the sofa she sat on.

"I'm not sure, Mom. I will call you to let you know." Quinn responds, standing by the front door, waiting for her mother to approach her but it came to no avail.

"Have fun, sweetie." She hears her mother call. Quinn sighs once again and leaves the house. She gets into her mini and drives to Rachel Berry's home.

xo

Rachel Berry's sugar candy party takes place in her basement and her back garden. The entire shindig has livened up since Puck came, with a crate of beer; no questioned how he came about owning so much alcohol. Everyone is on a high for Nationals. The doorbell rings and Rachel squeals excitedly. "That'll be Quinn!" She shouts loudly. She runs up the basement stairs and to the front door. She opens the front door to find Quinn standing on the doorstep.

"Quinn! Fashionably late but wow, the dress is lovely!" Rachel pulls Quinn into a hug unexpectedly. Quinn plays along even though the Rachel squeezes her to no end.

"Hello Rachel. Is everyone else here?" The blonde asks, stepping into the house whilst Rachel closes the door behind her. The smaller girl skips in front of her, leading Quinn to the basement door.

"Yes. You're the last one!" Rachel walks down the wooden stairs that lead into the basement. The entire group notices the final arrival. Several of them drunkenly cheer Quinn's name.

"Woah" Santana whispers as she watches the blonde gracefully enter behind Rachel as Puck immediately passes her a wine cooler. Mercedes, who is stood beside Santana notices the Latina's reaction and mentally kept a note of it.

"Looking good Lady Fabray" Puck weaves towards Quinn who takes a step back from him.

"Away you go Puckerman, and take your breath with you" Quinn waves her hand in his face and he rolls his eyes in an obvious defeat, making his way to the stack of beer he brought.

Quinn takes a swig of the wine cooler with no intention of making a move on the beer as she would rather watch the rest of her friends fall apart instead of herself. "Q" Quinn turns around to find Santana.

"Oh hey Santana" Quinn scans Santana's outfit which was typical of the Latina. She always claims to be overheated and it was obvious by her outfit that this was the case. Denim shorts, boots, vest top and a jacket over that. She always looked good and Santana would make any excuse to wear summer clothing all through the year.

"Someone's looking mighty fine this evening." The Latina cocks an eyebrow and smirks; she pulls back the small tab on top of the beer can. It hisses before the metal cracks open.

"Thank you" Quinn replies softly. There is an awkward silence, in Quinn's eyes, silence between them as they casually drink their beverages. "Hard to believe Nationals is coming up so quickly." Quinn starts, breaking the silence.

"I know right. I'm excited though, ready to kick some Adrenaline ass this year." Santana replies, crushing the empty can with her hands and placing it on the table beside them. "Let's hope we don't fuck up this year, it's still ridiculous that we lost Regionals last year even though we were great."

"Well I wouldn't really know how the other performances were." Quinn fiddles with the bottle she has, twirling it in her fingers. She tried so hard not to recall the memory of going into table after their performance at Regionals last year. She could remember the physical and emotional pain of that day.

"Sorry for bringing that back up, Q" Santana's lip quirked as she awkwardly looked down to her shoes.

"No need for apologies, Santana." The blonde responded simply and left to go talk to Mercedes in the far corner of the room. Santana turned and watched her leave, mentally cursing herself for driving Quinn away from her.

"Hey, Quinn" Mercedes smiles and shifts to her right, allowing Quinn to stand beside her. Quinn acknowledges her greeting with a smile. "Everyone thinks you look great in that dress."

"Really?" Quinn asks and looks down at her outfit. "I don't think I look like anything spectacular."

"Girl, just take a compliment once in a while" Mercedes replies, nudging the blonde who laughs lightly. Their conversation is interrupted by an outburst from a voice entering the room.

"Alright ladies!" Puck walks in, holding two cups, proudly in both hands. "Who's wants to play some 'Flip, Sip or Strip' with the Puckerman?"

"Not a chance, Noah." Santana walks over to him and stands in front him, taking the floor. "Before anyone gets naked, let's go simple. Eliminate the weaklings among us." Her tone could be compared with a leader from the Roman era, calling on all the men in the city to take part in a gladiator like games. The entire glee club watches her. "Anybody got a quarter?" They all fiddle into their pockets until Sam flicks two in Santana's way. She catches them and flips one up, catching it in her palm again.

"Let's start off with a coin game. Everyone get into pairs." She orders. Some of the pairings are obvious. Rachel immediately pairs up with Finn and clings onto him; although Santana's pretty sure they're not dating. Artie wheels towards Brittany which pisses Santana off but she chooses to ignore the sight of them. Blaine, who's not even in Glee club, shifts towards Kurt. Zizes and Puck grab each other like it's the end of the world. Everyone begins pairing up around Santana, even Quinn with Mercedes, Tina and Mike.

"Trouty mouth it is" Santana sighs, heading over to Sam and grabbing him by the arm. "So everyone has their pairs. She pulls a large, rectangular coffee table into the centre of the room. "Okay, since we only have two quarters, I'm going to number you all in the order of when it's your turn. 1 goes first, 7 goes last. Two pairs have to kneel either side of the table. One person has to flip the coin and their pair has to guess the side. Guess right, you give the coin to your partner to flip. Guess wrong, the coin-bearer gets to spin it and your counterpart has to drink for as long as the coin is spinning." She instructs them all and there's a murmur between the pairs.

"Plot twist! Just before the coin stops spinning, the coin-bearer must slam it down on the table and guess what side. The coin gets spun until you guess right and we move on to the next pair." Santana adds before she begins to number the pairs.

xo

The first two pairs up are Zizes/Puck and Quinn/Mercedes; the rest of the group huddle around them watching the game proceed, getting tips about the players' skills and attributes. The best spinner is Quinn and Mercedes is eliminated early, who had to keep drinking. They are replaced by Tina and Mike. Zizes and Puck are equally bad and their game lasts too long that Zizes gives up out of boredom.

Tina's competitive side comes out against Mike and shocks the group by quickly disorientating her boyfriend and spinning him out of the game. Santana and Sam were next after Zizes. Sam flips the coin. "Heads" She says and Sam reveals that it was in fact heads. "Fuck yeah." He reluctantly passes the coin to Santana who repeats his action.

"Heads!" It was tails and Santana spins the coin, fast. Sam downs the red cup and Santana smacks the coin down on the table. "Tails" Sam says, wiping his froggy lips.

"Heads, Trouty." Santana grins evily, spinning the coin and Rachel passes a newly filled cup back to the blonde. He drinks so fast that he begins to cough up and retires; Santana wins.

Both Santana and Quinn watch how Rachel and Finn play. Rachel is the clear lightweight and slumps to the floor much to Finn's concern who rushes around the table.

About 20 minutes pass and it's the "semi-finals." Santana vs. Puck and Quinn vs. Tina. Quinn eases past Tina and watches as the other semi takes place. Santana flips the coin and Puck guesses wrong and she happily begins to spin the coin; Quinn takes note that Santana is also a great spinner of the coin. Puck easily drinks the beer and guesses correctly when Santana smacks the coin down. The game is practically tennis, the coin goes from one to the other and each of them drinks. It isn't until Santana sits up on her knees and her cleavage is visible when Puck is drinking that he chokes on the beer.

"Winner of semi final two!" Santana lifts her arms up in victory and the group cheers her on. Lauren pulls Puck away and Quinn sits on her knees opposite the Latina.

"Wait, wait! I gotta see this!" Puck repels Zizes pull and demands to watch this. Quinn is about to toss the coin before Puck interrupts.

"Let's make this a little more interesting. Loser has to give the winner a victory kiss." He drunkenly states. Quinn's eyes widen and Santana sees how uncomfortable she looks, the group gasps and get excited.

"It's only a kiss, Q" Santana whispers, reassuring the blonde opposite. Quinn felt like she was sure to lose and to kiss Santana was the last thing she wanted to do, even the girl opposite her did look remarkably good in her clothes.

Quinn tosses the coin and the game gets under way.

xo

5 minutes and they've both lost but neither of them falters due to how well they're able to spin the coins. Santana flips the coin.

"Tails"

"Wrong!" Santana smirks and spins the coin, Quinn begins to drink. The coin begins to wither away and flatten before Santana launches her hand over it. "Tails" Quinn repeats and Santana reveals that it's a Heads. The blonde sighs into her palm and begins to show signs of weakness. Mercedes hands Quinn another cup and she starts to drink again once Santana spins the coin.

Quinn's head is throbbing. "Call it quits, Fabray?" She hears Santana ask. The coin begins to make a whirr sound as it starts to droop.

Smack! Santana's hand is over the coin. The group goes quiet around as they wait for Quinn to make a call. "Tails" She says and everyone gasps. Santana moves her hand and it's a Heads. Their drunken friends all shout in surprise as Santana curses to herself, sliding the coin towards Quinn.

The blonde steadies herself and flips it in the air.

"Heads"

"Its tails" Quinn replies, spinning the coin. Out of pure luck, the spin is fast and lasts for a while. Mercedes hands her a second cup and this is the one where Santana begins to show evidence of the beer getting to her body and mind. Quinn slaps her hand on coin.

"Tails" Santana slurs and Quinn makes the coin visible to everyone.

"Ohhhh!" Everyone shouts and Santana puts her head in her hands. Quinn fiddles with the coin between her thumbs and spins it. Someone hands Santana a cup and she starts to drink. It was a long coin spin from Quinn and Santana is on her second cup for this part. She begins to slow down and Quinn can see that Santana is on her way out of this game. The Latina groans and the cup is on the table, half full.

"Fuck it, I'm done." She puts her head to the table and everyone yells at Quinn's surprise win. Rachel has clearly sobered up a little and stands up, urging Quinn to do so.

"I declare the winner of this rather prolonged coin game… Quinn Fabray!" She holds one of Quinn's limp arms up.

"Time for some lady lovin'!" Puck woos as Santana pulls herself up. There is another wave of excitement around the room as the boys all try and get a good angle of this kiss.

"Pucker up Fabray" Santana stumbles towards the blonde who is also in no fit state. She hastily wraps her arms around the blonde's neck and pulls her towards her. Their lips meet and all their drunken counterparts squeal animatedly. Quinn can smell the alcohol aroma around Santana and she expects the brunette to pull away but Santana's tongue forces its way into Quinn's mind.

"Holy shit" Mike's mouth drops as the group watches the kiss develops. Quinn feels her hands wanting to hold Santana's waist and they begin to reach for them. She hears an "Oh my god" from someone and immediately pushes Santana away, breaking the kiss. Quinn licks her lip and Santana squints her eyes, trying to adjust to the scene around them.

"Well that was fucking hot" Puck says, earning a punch in the arm from Lauren. The girls don't know what to say and the group wait for someone to speak.

"I have to go to the bathroom" Quinn shakes her head and runs up the basement stairs into the hallway. She heads up the staircase and sees the bathroom near Rachel's room. She puts her hands against the basin and takes a deep breath. There's a creak of the door behind her and she turns around and sees Mercedes in the doorway.

"Mercedes… hi" Quinn quietly says and the smaller girl hands her a glass of cold water.

"You're going to need that." Mercedes giggles, shutting the door behind her. "So... that kiss. Explain?"

Quinn takes a sip of the water and shakes her head. "It was nothing. She was drunk and I was too. I can tolerate it better than she can. I was more surprised than all of you."

"Looked like you didn't want it to stop." Mercedes shrugs her shoulders and Quinn rubs her eyes lids.

"I pushed her away and plus, it was her tongue that made the first move-"

"Ew! I don't need the nasty details!"


End file.
